STARKVILLE, Miss. - Carnecia Williams and Katia May scored 13 points each, and
a stifling Mississippi State defense forced 26 turnovers as the Bulldogs opened
the Vic Schaefer era with a 55-49 exhibition win against Shorter Friday night at
Humphrey Coliseum.

Williams, a
Memphis, Tenn., native, scored 10 of her 13 points in the second half, while May,
the York, Ala., standout, tallied nine points over the game's final 20 minutes.

Williams also pulled
in six rebounds and added a block in the contest.

"Carnecia is a tough kid," Schaefer said. "I
like her toughness and her desire to please. She's the kind of kid you're proud
of."

Schaefer's
hard-pressing defense paid off, as the Bulldogs limited shorter to 25.8-percent
shooting on the night, including an 18.2-percent tally from three-point range.

Mississippi State
connected on 21-of-64 shots (32.8 percent) in the contest.

Shorter opened
the game with a 9-0 run and extended the lead to 10 on a Karisma Boykin three-pointer
with 14:16 left before halftime.

The Bulldogs
slowly began to chip away at the Shorter lead. With two minutes left before half,
Williams sank back-to-back baskets to trim the Lady Hawk advantage to one at 22-21.

Senior Darriel
Gaynor gave MSU a 25-22 lead with consecutive layups, and the Bulldogs took a
25-24 advantage to the intermission after Shorter's Ieshia Alexander ended the
half with a pair of free throws.

"I think we
played hard. You don't force 26 turnovers standing around. I'm encouraged with
how hard we played at times, and I appreciate our kids' effort," Schaefer said.
"This time of year there is a lot to work on, but I'm pleased with our effort."

MSU maintained
the advantage throughout the second half, answering every time Shorter would
try to make a run. After shooting 27.8 percent from the floor in the opening
half, the Bulldogs connected on 39.3-percent of their shots over the final 20
minutes.

It wasn't just
the offense that stepped up in the second half, though. The defense locked down
even more, limiting Shorter to 7-of-31 shooting (22.6 percent) after the Lady
Hawks knocked down 29-percent of their shots in the first half.

State pushed the
lead out to five to open the second half. The Lady Hawks trimmed the lead to
two before Kendra Grant knocked down two of her seven points to extend the
advantage back to four at 45-41.

Shorter trimmed the
lead to 45-44 with 4:42 left to play, but Gaynor responded with State's lone
three-pointer of the game to put MSU up four with 2:42 remaining.

Gaynor, a Las
Vegas native, just missed double figures as she scored nine points in the contest.

A Williams bucket
gave MSU a 50-44 lead with 1:35 to go, and May sealed the win as she hit 5-of-6
free throws down the stretch.